Generation of a preview of an image in a print job

Abstract

Method for generating a preview of an image in a print job comprising: creating a preview RIP-job at the head of a RIP-job queue, the RIP-job queue queueing in first-in-first-out order RIP-jobs to be submitted to and processed by a raster image processor, and the preview RIP-job arranged to register images to be submitted to the raster image processor for generating a preview of the image, registering the image in the preview RIP-job in order for the image to be submitted to the raster image processor, wherein the completion of the preview RIP-job is independent of the state of any print job as well as of the contents of the preview RIP-job.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . Method for generating a preview of an image in a print job comprising the steps of:
 creating a preview RIP-job at the head of a RIP-job queue, the RIP-job queue queueing in first-in-first-out order RIP-jobs to be submitted to and processed by a raster image processor, and the preview RIP-job arranged to register images to be submitted to the raster image processor for generating a preview of the image,   registering the image in the preview RIP-job in order for the image to be submitted to the raster image processor,   wherein the completion of the preview RIP-job is independent of the state of any print job as well as independent of the contents of the preview RIP-job.   
     
     
         2 . Method according to  claim 1  wherein the preview RIP-job is created at the front of the RIP-job queue by creating the preview RIP-job before any other RIP-job is queued. 
     
     
         3 . Method according to  claim 2  wherein the preview RIP-job is created during system start-up. 
     
     
         4 . Method according to  claim 1  wherein ripping the preview comprises ripping to a lower resolution than the native print engine resolution. 
     
     
         5 . Method according to  claim 1  further comprising the steps of:
 a) checking whether a number of ripped but unprinted images is below a first predetermined threshold, 
 b) checking whether a number of unripped images in RIP-jobs other than the preview RIP-job exceeds a second predetermined threshold, and 
 c) suspending submission of an image to the preview RIP-job as long as the conditions of both steps a) and b) are met. 
 
     
     
         6 . Method according to  claim 1  further comprising displaying a preview in a user interface. 
     
     
         7 . A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium that, if executed on a processor, performs the steps of the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         8 . Printer controller arranged to control a print engine, the printer controller comprising:
 a print job reception device;   a RIP-job generator connected to the print job reception device and arranged to determine at least one RIP-job for the print job, wherein the RIP-job is arranged to register images in a page description language;   a raster image processor for generating a raster image for an image provided to the raster image processor in a page description language;   a RIP-job queue connected to the RIP-job generator and to the raster image processor, and arranged to receive RIP-jobs from the RIP-job generator, queue the RIP-jobs in a first-in-first-out order, and provide an image from the first non-empty RIP-job starting from the head of the RIP-job queue to the raster image processor;   wherein the printer controller is further arranged to:   create a preview RIP-job at the head of the RIP-job queue; and   register images to be previewed in the preview RIP-job; and   wherein the completion and dequeueing of the preview RIP-job is independent of the state of any print job as well as independent of the contents of the preview RIP-job.   
     
     
         9 . Printer controller according to  claim 8  wherein the preview RIP-job is created at the head of the RIP-job queue by creating the preview RIP-job before any other RIP-job is queued. 
     
     
         10 . Printer controller according to  claim 9  wherein the preview RIP-job is created during system start-up. 
     
     
         11 . Printer controller according to  claim 8  wherein the raster image processor generating a raster image for an image from a RIP-job comprises generating a raster image with a lower resolution than the native print engine resolution. 
     
     
         12 . Printer controller according to  claim 8  further arranged to:
 a) check whether a number of unprinted raster images is below a first predetermined threshold, 
 b) checking whether a number of images in RIP-jobs other than the preview RIP-job exceeds a second predetermined threshold, and 
 c) suspending submission of an image to the preview RIP-job as long as the conditions of both steps a) and b) are met. 
 
     
     
         13 . Printer controller according to  claim 8  further comprising a user interface generation device, wherein the printer controller is arranged to:
 submit an image from a print job that is to be previewed through the user interface to be generated by the user interface generation device to the preview RIP-job; and 
 have the corresponding raster image generated by the raster image processor provided to the user interface generation device. 
 
     
     
         14 . Print system comprising a print engine for forming an image on a media by depositing marking material on the media, the print system further comprising the print controller of  claim 8 , wherein the print controller is connected to the print engine and is arranged to provide a raster image to be printed to the print engine and to control the print engine in order to have the print image form the image on the media. 
     
     
         15 . Print system comprising a print engine for forming an image on a media by depositing marking material on the media, the print system further comprising the print controller of  claim 9 , wherein the print controller is connected to the print engine and is arranged to provide a raster image to be printed to the print engine and to control the print engine in order to have the print image form the image on the media. 
     
     
         16 . Print system comprising a print engine for forming an image on a media by depositing marking material on the media, the print system further comprising the print controller of  claim 10 , wherein the print controller is connected to the print engine and is arranged to provide a raster image to be printed to the print engine and to control the print engine in order to have the print image form the image on the media. 
     
     
         17 . Print system comprising a print engine for forming an image on a media by depositing marking material on the media, the print system further comprising the print controller of  claim 11 , wherein the print controller is connected to the print engine and is arranged to provide a raster image to be printed to the print engine and to control the print engine in order to have the print image form the image on the media. 
     
     
         18 . Print system comprising a print engine for forming an image on a media by depositing marking material on the media, the print system further comprising the print controller of  claim 13 , wherein the print controller is connected to the print engine and is arranged to provide a raster image to be printed to the print engine and to control the print engine in order to have the print image form the image on the media. 
     
     
         19 . A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium that, if executed on a processor, performs the steps of the method of  claim 3 . 
     
     
         20 . A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium that, if executed on a processor, performs the steps of the method of  claim 4 .